YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump after the platform suspended his account in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.
The agreement, disclosed in a court filing on Monday, makes Google’s video-sharing subsidiary the latest technology giant to resolve litigation tied to the events of 2021.
Under the settlement, $22 million will be directed through the non-profit Trust for the National Mall to fund the construction of the new White House State Ballroom.
An additional $2.5 million will be distributed to pro-Trump organizations and conservative groups, including the American Conservative Union.
The settlement explicitly states that it does not constitute an admission of liability by YouTube. Google has declined to comment on the rationale behind the deal.
Trump’s lawsuit accused YouTube, along with Facebook and Twitter (now X), of wrongful censorship after they suspended his accounts, citing the risk of incitement to further violence. Major platforms acted after Trump’s false claims of election fraud fueled unrest that left more than 140 officers injured and the Capitol under siege.
Meta has already paid $25 million to settle a similar case, while X reached a $10 million settlement. Both companies, alongside YouTube, have since worked closely with the Trump administration, with top executives including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg present at Trump’s second inauguration earlier this year.
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